late... as usual

so as usual lately, i haven't had much free time. and what free time i've had has been spent trying to keep my eyes open. as such, i am late again... wanting to blog about the girls' first birthday with us...
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last saturday was day 2 of the birthday celebration, though day being celebrated wasn't until sunday. a week from today, christmas, we celebrated at the girls' school. going to each classroom, we watched as the birthday girl walked a globe in a circle around a lit candle with the class singing "the earth goes around the sun, the sun, the sun, the sun, the sun, the sun. the earth goes around the sun, the sun, and (your child's name here) was (age)." this is sung to the tune of the wheels on the bus and is sung each time the earth goes around the sun. in other words, it was sung for year 1, year 2, year 3, year 4, and year 5 with a pause between each year to talk about what alex/sonja was like at that age. it was followed by a simple snack of homemade chex mix, and back to work i went.
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saturday was the big party day. since it was the girls' first birthday under our roof, we decided to go all out... for us. we invited 31 children to a place called pump-it-up. if you've never heard of this, it's basically a big room designed for birthday parties, equipped with ceiling-high inflatable toys for the kids to run and jump, literally bouncing off the walls. counting our kids, only 15 children were present, which is somewhat sadly to be expected as their birthday is so near christmas.
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the prior two weekends, sonja has gone to birthday parties. alex has not. as such, alex has been feeling somewhat unloved and unwelcomed in any group. sonja seems to have recently become the life of any gathering, while alex has become shy, quiet, and a loner. their party was no exception unfortunately. alex came up to be later during the jump fest wearing a pout. upon inquiring of her curious facial expression, i found she felt nobody would play with her. so daddy emptied his pockets, took off his shoes, and raced around the complex like a fellow 5-year old, romping with the lonely 5-year-old-to-be. we had a great time.
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saturday night before bed was spent opening all of the presents received from the party. in typical small child fashion, the girls tore through the packaging, said a quick "wow", and jumped on the next package.
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after church sunday, our families came over for some birthday fun. we sat around and chatted while the kids ran around like little wild animals. snacks, cake, ice cream, and presents were the order of the day, nothing disappointing. even mr. seth and miss nisha were there!
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so the popular question lately is "are the girls ready for christmas?" and the favored reply: "they could care less. it's their birthday."